Guilt, series 3, review: Mark Bonnar still shines in this Scottish black comedy

When the first series of Guilt ended in 2019, I hoped that there wouldn’t be a second. That’s because it was nigh on perfect – equal parts black comedy and crime thriller, full of twists and turns, with razor-sharp writing and  a cracking central performance from Mark Bonnar – and I feared that things could only go downhill from there.

It turned out that series two was very good, actually, and there is plenty to like about series three. But writer Neil Forsyth has to keep moving further away from the original premise in order to keep things going, and things become increasingly complex.

If you haven’t seen the first two series then you’ve got no chance of understanding what’s going on here, so don’t try. Go and catch up on iPlayer. Aficionados will be happy to learn that the McCall brothers, Max (Bonnar) and Jake (Jamie Sives) are reunited. The last time we saw them, they were about to run a bar together in Chicago. But that’s the sort of happy ending that this luckless pair would never get. Soon they’ve been deported and are back in their native Scotland. Max’s attempts to sweet-talk his way through passport control are very funny.

Also back: Emun Elliott as Kenny, still resplendent in 70s knitwear, and Greg McHugh as Teddy, Max’s hilariously insane former cellmate. Yvonne the policewoman is here too, although confusingly she’s played by a different actress.

But the character who really comes into their own this series is Maggie Lynch, played by Phyllis Logan. Who knew Mrs Hughes from Downton Abbey could be so evil? Roy is out of the picture, and Maggie – who spent most of series two residing in assisted living accommodation and getting about by wheelchair – has dropped the act. She’s a truly menacing villain – compared to Maggie, Roy was about as intimidating as Winnie the Pooh.

I’ve watched all four episodes and can’t tell you much about the plot because I’d just be giving you a list of spoilers. There’s some ongoing business about a bank deal that is really quite dull, and some new characters involved in a drug deal and about whom you’ll care very little.

But the theme of this series is redemption, and whether Max can find it. That’s something all Guilt fans will want to follow. Bonnar is a great actor, capable of signalling half a dozen conflicting emotions simultaneously with just the tiniest flicker of facial expression (in Max’s case, one of these is almost always ‘panic’). He is a joy to watch, and Forsyth’s dialogue is a treat to hear.